El Jadida, Morocco - The social representation of the other in the Moroccan popular culture of Islam is mainly grounded in the culturally embedded conception of possession popularized by a maraboutic cultural worldview. The concept of the other may be regarded as positional constituting whatever is radically different from the social categories of the same and whatever represents an urgent threat by virtue ...

Rabat – There is no shadow of doubt hat the terrible acts of terrorism of Charlie Hebdo in Paris on January 7, 2015 are condemnable, by any cultural or religious standards of any human civilization. Violence wrecks the lives of individuals, families and societies and sows fear and hatred for years to come, if not to say for decades. Terrorism must, definitely, be checked, fought and, most importantly, stif ...

Fez - Moroccan English language teachers undergo a lengthy process of training before actually becoming teachers. Nearly a majority of these trainings take place in governmental institutions like Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) and regional learning centers. While the majority of teachers will receive formal training before work, some Moroccan teachers receive in-service training while they are already teach ...

Kenitra - “Why should we be so arrogant as to assume that we're the first homo-sapiens to walk the earth?” (J.J. Abrams et al., 2010) No one remembers one’s moment of birth and neither does humanity. The beginning of man is a scientific mystery. This article, however, is not about how man came to be, but about shortly after that; it is about the dawn of humanity, a missing chapter in human history. People, ...

Rabat - Ta’ziya is a performing tradition out of many that were celebrated in the East before the appropriation of the Western model. Ta’ziya is a formulaic space resurrecting the historical memory of the martyrdom of Hussein –grandson of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH)—, his family and his companions who had refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid. I would like to maintain that this performing tradition is inco ...

By Abdeladim Hinda Kenitra - Quiet hamlets in the Arif mountain valleys, spacious pastures on the slopes, lakes and dams here and there upheld in the chalice of the hills, fields green or yellow verging toward the blue Northern Mediterranean Sea and the Western Atlantic Ocean, villages and towns drowsy under the noon sun of July and then alive with passion cities in which, amid dust and dirt, everything fr ...

Rabat - The linguistic situation in Morocco is characterized by complexity. The presence of different local and foreign languages leaves room for diversity and creates many sociolinguistic issues. The languages used in Morocco are Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Amazigh, French, and Spanish (as well as English, which has recently started to gain significance). The presence and int ...

Fez- Recently, relatively subtle or, rather, unpublicized debate has arisen among educators and politicians over the importance of English as a global language in the Moroccan linguistic market. Some political and business figures have voiced that it is high time the English language replaced, or at least rivaled, French in its supremacy in the educational and economic spheres of Morocco. Regardless of the ...

By Othman Ouaarab Casablanca - As the end of the eighteenth century approached, the region of North Africa, known as the Barbary States at that time, was undergoing many changes. The key word that is associated with this period is piracy. The term Barbary was derived from the Berber-speaking people who originally inhabited the region. The Barbary States refer to president-day Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia (then ...

Rabat - Undoubtedly, the teacher plays a fundamental and central role in the life of the child and in the future of the Ummah [community] in general. The teacher provides him or her with science, knowledge, morals, behaviour, belief and ambition, as they spend almost eight hours a day together full of activity, vitality, and vigour. These hours are longer than those the child spends with his parents and rel ...

Fez - After many years of struggle by women’s organizations, the situation of women in Morocco has improved, thanks to the adoption of several reforms. During the last two decades, Moroccan women have been calling for equal rights between men and women. Their efforts have given birth to many triumphs and contributed to the improvement of the status of women in Morocco. Theoretically, Morocco has some of the ...

Tinejdad, Morocco - Growing professionally as a highly effective teacher is not that easy. It is a matter of struggle, patience, and commitment to improve one’s potentials and capacities. When young teachers embark on teaching, they usually feel excited and internally motivated. Yet, as time passes, those boiling feelings of passion and fondness start getting colder and colder, dragging down a large communi ...